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The leading provider of global news, comment and analysis for the telecommunications industryTue, 31 Mar 2015 16:49:46 +0000en-GBhourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.1Microsoft delays Windows Phone 7 in China until 2012http://telecoms.com/37528/microsoft-delays-windows-phone-7-in-china-until-2012/
http://telecoms.com/37528/microsoft-delays-windows-phone-7-in-china-until-2012/#commentsTue, 06 Dec 2011 15:11:17 +0000http://www.telecoms.com/?p=37528Microsoft has announced that it will miss its target of launching its Windows Phone 7 handsets in China, stating that the devices will be available in the country in the first half of 2012, rather than by the end of 2011, as originally planned.

The firm said that it is working to “ensure local citizens have a great experience with Windows Phones”, adding that it is working with partners in China to assess the best timings and channels for the devices to go to market in the country.

China is a key market for Microsoft, as penetration of its Windows smartphones in the country is expected to grow more than 20-fold over the next five years, from just 0.87m devices on the market today, to 18.92m units by the end of 2016, according to forecasts from Informa Telecoms & Media.

The company had has been in discussions with Chinese handset makers including Lenovo, ZTE and Huawei Technologies about developing Windows Phone 7 devices for Chinese consumers, and it is not currently clear which handset manufacturer will launch the first handsets on the OS in China.

At the launch of Nokia’s Lumia Windows Phone 7 handsets in October this year, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop said the firm would launch the introduce the two Lumia devices in Hong-Kong and Taiwan before the end of 2011, but would only follow with a portfolio of products in mainland China in the first half of 2012.

Meanwhile, Lenovo’s LePhone product manager Yue Chen recently stated that there is a clear schedule for the firm’s own Windows Phone devices, but it would not be until late next year.

“We are indeed currently considering a Windows Phone-based LePhone product, and we already have a clear release schedule — it will be released during the second half of 2012,” said Chen.

]]>http://telecoms.com/37528/microsoft-delays-windows-phone-7-in-china-until-2012/feed/0Nokia smartphones “too expensive” says Telefónica handset chiefhttp://telecoms.com/36101/nokia-smartphones-too-expensive-says-telefonica-handset-chief/
http://telecoms.com/36101/nokia-smartphones-too-expensive-says-telefonica-handset-chief/#commentsMon, 07 Nov 2011 09:53:25 +0000http://www.telecoms.com/?p=36101Nokia’s high end smartphones are “too expensive” according to the European general manager for devices at international carrier Telefónica. Simon Lee-Smith told Telecoms.com that Nokia’s premium devices are “not yet at the right price point,” adding: “If Nokia wants to sell in volume, they need to bring out devices which are cost-competitive.”

Lee-Smith said Nokia was “beginning to listen” to its carrier customers and that he expected the Finnish vendor to deliver devices in the new year that are “more commercially effective”. He said the problem related to products that have been available for some time, such as the N8 and N9, as well as the recently announced Lumia800, Nokia’s new flagship WP7-based smartphone.

At Nokia World last month Nokia CEO Stephen Elop said that the Lumia 800 would retail for €420, pre-tax and pre-subsidy.

The vendor also used Nokia World to unveil a rejuvenated emerging market proposition based around feature phones heavy on functionality but low on price. “I hope they’re successful with that,” Lee-Smith said. “They need to be able to subsidise their high end smartphones, because they’re too expensive.”

Device vendors generally have unrealistic expectations of what carriers and consumers will pay for smartphones, Lee-Smith said. “All device manufacturers seem to think that a €400-plus device is the norm. Well, it isn’t. Customers and operators won’t pay that cost for a device which doesn’t differentiate sufficiently.”

Simply improving the specifications of smartphones is not sufficient, he added, saying that operators in general, and Telefónica in particular, won’t pay premiums simply because vendors are delivering phones with bigger screens or higher resolution cameras. “Let’s not let the technology and cost curve ahead of the demand curve,” he said.

]]>http://telecoms.com/36101/nokia-smartphones-too-expensive-says-telefonica-handset-chief/feed/7Nokia signals intent with big name signingshttp://telecoms.com/35671/nokia-signals-intent-with-big-name-signings/
http://telecoms.com/35671/nokia-signals-intent-with-big-name-signings/#commentsThu, 27 Oct 2011 13:44:14 +0000http://www.telecoms.com/?p=35671Nokia has announced that it has signed sports broadcaster ESPN, games manufacturer Electronic Arts (EA) and children’s educational content provider Sesame Street as app partners for its Windows Mobile phones. The tie-ups are part of the company’s attempts to make up lost ground on competitors in the smartphone space.

At its annual Nokia World event in London, the handset manufacturer announced a partnership with ESPN and unveiled a new feature for its newly-launched Lumia Windows Phone devices: the ESPN Sports Hub. The hub, tailored specifically for Nokia’s Windows devices will provide sports fans access to football, tennis, racing, athletics, cricket and rugby data through their device. The application also provides real-time sport updates including live scores, news, statistics, schedules and results.

The tie-up with EA builds on the games manufacturers existing relationships with both Microsoft in the PC space and Nokia in the handset space. As a result of the deal, EA will tailor titles to the Nokia Windows Phone devices and plans to offer free games and demos, alongside paid-for games, on the platform as new titles are released.

The handsets will also contain a games hub, allowing users to access and edit their Xbox Live profile and play XMA-based Xbox Live Arcade games. However, the selection of games available for Windows Phone is still far fewer than iOS or Android, although Nokia said it plans to change that as more titles are released.

And Nokia is also targeting children as the launch of its Windows Phone devices sees a tie up with Sesame Street. Although it is famed for producing the much-loved children’s TV show since the late 1960s, Sesame Street’s core business is actually as a not-for-profit children’s educational charity. The deal with Nokia’s Windows Phones will see an array of apps aimed at helping kids read and write using the devices.

Nokia unveiled its first Windows Phone devices at Nokia World on Wednesday, when it introduced the Lumia 800, targeted at the upper market segment with its 3.7 inch AMOLED curved display, 1.4 GHz processor, 16GB of internal user memory and a more affordable model for the masses, the Lumia 710.

]]>http://telecoms.com/35671/nokia-signals-intent-with-big-name-signings/feed/1HTC spreads bets with WP7 Mango handsetshttp://telecoms.com/32390/htc-spreads-bets-with-wp7-mango-handsets/
http://telecoms.com/32390/htc-spreads-bets-with-wp7-mango-handsets/#commentsFri, 02 Sep 2011 10:06:45 +0000http://www.telecoms.com/?p=32390Taiwanese handset vendor HTC has previewed two Windows Phone 7 smartphones to consumers across Europe, ahead of the products’ commercial release in October. The Titan and Radar handsets are the first from HTC to run the latest version of WP7, dubbed Mango.

While Microsoft revamped its mobile OS programme, HTC—once a firm that was described by executives as having “Windows in our DNA”—adopted Google’s Android operating system, establishing itself as one of the leading Android players. With the Titan and Radar the firm is demonstrating an ongoing willingness to work with Microsoft, although the allegiance is not what it was.

Nonetheless, the firm praised Microsoft’s new platform, with global sales and marketing chief Jason Mackenzie saying it allowed HTC to “raise the bar with advanced photography, multimedia and social capabilities”.

Microsoft’s close partnership with Nokia, announced early this year, was felt by some observers to run the risk of alienating other vendor partners. But Nokia has yet to release a product based on WP7, and has lacked conviction when voicing its desire to deliver a handset before the end of 2011. So it may be that WP7 remains more open territory for other vendors than it appeared early this year.

For vendors that have aligned themselves closely with Android, the recent announcement from Google that it is to acquire the handset division of Motorola might well have forced a rethink for the same reasons that the Microsoft/Nokia partnership gave them cause for concern. HTC, which has established leadership in both camps as it has sought to build its consumer brand, could prove a useful bellwether.

]]>http://telecoms.com/32390/htc-spreads-bets-with-wp7-mango-handsets/feed/1Nokia’s Ovi store on the up, R&D going downhttp://telecoms.com/26455/nokias-ovi-store-on-the-up-rd-going-down/
http://telecoms.com/26455/nokias-ovi-store-on-the-up-rd-going-down/#commentsWed, 13 Apr 2011 10:23:38 +0000http://www.telecoms.com/?p=26455Nokia’s Ovi app store has hit the five million downloads a day mark, despite speculation regarding its future since the Finnish manufacturer entered a deal with Microsoft earlier this year. The app store offers more than 40,000 products but many believe it’s unlikely to survive in the context of Nokia’s agreement to ship Windows 7 phones from 2012 onwards. Microsoft has its own app store, Windows Marketplace, and it seems unlikely that the pair can co-exist in an ultra-competitive market.

Nokia said that the growth was “propelled by the latest Symbian devices, which account for about 15 per cent of the daily downloads” from a 200-million-strong Symbian user base sets it on an interesting future course; the likes of Gartner and IDC are predicting that Nokia Symbian phones will be replaced almost entirely by W7 ones by 2013. This despite Nokia’s announcement earlier this week that it plans to ship at least 150 million Symbian smartphones in the coming year and will continue to offer software updates for the platform. This leaves the company with support and content obligations that will extend beyond any tapering-off of its home-grown offerings in favour of Microsoft’s.

Nokia’s work on beta applications for in-app billing and advertising on Symbian are likely to attract more developers to the platform, leaving speculators pondering exactly what the manufacturer’s strategy going forward could be. Nokia CEO Stephen Elop told the Financial Times that its leadership team had identified the transition from Symbian to W7 as one of the most challenging aspects of its new strategy; Jo Harlow of its smart devices division told the FT that “The easier task is to start Windows Phone from a fresh perspective, but the more difficult task is to continue to operate Symbian.”

News of the Ovi store’s success comes on the back of reports today that Nokia may cut up to 6,000 jobs from its research and development division as it prepares to cement its alliance with Microsoft. Since 2007, the Symbian platform has slipped from a market-leading position in excess of 64 per cent to a predicted 19 per cent for this year. The deal with Microsoft is expected to be finalised by the end of this month.

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]]>http://telecoms.com/26455/nokias-ovi-store-on-the-up-rd-going-down/feed/2Microsoft reportedly paid Nokia $1bn in handset dealhttp://telecoms.com/25195/microsoft-reportedly-paid-nokia-1bn-in-handset-deal/
http://telecoms.com/25195/microsoft-reportedly-paid-nokia-1bn-in-handset-deal/#commentsTue, 08 Mar 2011 12:45:34 +0000http://www.telecoms.com/?p=25195Microsoft has reportedly paid Nokia more than $1bn to run with its Windows Phone 7 platform. News of the recent deal between the pair had left many observers pondering the wisdom of Nokia’s decision to effectively become a one-trick pony on the platform front, but if the reports from Bloomberg are accurate, it’s a little easier to understand why the OEM would be prepared to take a risk with WP7.

Under the terms of the agreement, the final version of which has yet to be signed, Nokia will pay a fee for each copy of W7 it ships on its phones. According to observers, this will allow the manufacturer to cut costs on software research and development. For Microsoft, Nokia represents an opportunity to scale in a market where many feel they’ve already lost the race against Android and Apple. Interestingly, the deal – which is expected to last five years – is reported to give Microsoft access to Nokia patents for the duration of the agreement, putting an interesting slant on observations that the sum of money involved is indicative purely of Redmond’s desperation in the face on Android’s growth.

Nokia shares have dropped by 26 per cent since the announcement of the Microsoft deal while operating margins have reportedly shrunk to under five per cent from almost 20 per cent ten years ago. Microsoft, meanwhile, is under increasing pressure to score in the mobile space in the face of massive competition from Apple and Google. The deal with Nokia will allow Redmond to offer potentially lucrative location-based services through the manufacturer’s Navteq mapping products.

To date, Microsoft’s efforts to get in on the services act in a meaningful way has been less than impressive. This week, it admitted that its new Deals social shopping service doesn’t work on Windows Phone 7, even though it will run on both Android and Apple devices. Since launching late last year, WP7 has received good reviews but has so far made little impact on the market. Recent figures give it just 8 per cent market share in the US compared with top-placed Android, which has over 31 per cent.

]]>http://telecoms.com/25195/microsoft-reportedly-paid-nokia-1bn-in-handset-deal/feed/0Microsoft improves developer services for WP7http://telecoms.com/23687/microsoft-improves-developer-services-for-wp7/
http://telecoms.com/23687/microsoft-improves-developer-services-for-wp7/#commentsFri, 10 Dec 2010 10:43:46 +0000http://www.telecoms.com/?p=23687Microsoft has revealed a number of improvements to its developer relationship for Windows Phone 7, the platform that marks its latest assault on the smartphone market. The firm said that the first payments to developers would be made a little ahead of schedule, and it is now able to offer feedback to developers on the performance of their apps within the Windows Phone Marketplace.

The announcements were made in a post on the Windows Phone developer blog from Todd Brix, a senior director of product management on the project.

There are nearly 4,000 apps in the Marketplace now, Brix revealed, from more than 18,000 registered developers. The first payments for Apps sold since the launch of WP7 in October are expected to be made in the fourth week of January, he said, after which developers whose apps have crossed minimum payout thresholds will be remunerated monthly.

Developers looking to find out if there is money coming their way can now access data on the performance of their products within the Marketplace, both in terms of volume downloads and revenue generated. The reports can be filtered by date, country and application, Brix wrote.

He made reference to a number of complaints from developers over Microsoft’s cumbersome registration process and promised that improvements had been made. He said that 91 per cent of applications submitted in the last month had been certified and published within two days of submission and that 86 per cent of new developers that register in the App Hub have had their accounts vetted and validated within ten days. Brix said that more than 1,000 developers are registering each week.

Improvements have also been made to the Microsoft Advertising SDK for WP7, he said. The full post is here.

The new moniker is a conscious move away from the old Windows Mobile branding, and Microsoft is keen to point out that the change is more than cosmetic, having adopted a rip and replace attitude to the development of the new platform. Windows Phone 7 offers a more visually appealing layout than its predecessors, featuring dynamically updated live tiles, which show users real time content updates. A user could create a tile of a friend and gain a readable, up-to-date view of a friend’s latest pictures and posts from the Start screen.

The platform is also making much of the aggregation trend sweeping the industry at present. Windows Phone hubs bring together related content from the web, applications and services into a single view built on specific themes: People, which brings together relevant content based on the person, from services such as Facebook and Windows Live; Pictures, which allows users to share pictures and video to social networks; Games, which integrates with Microsoft’s Xbox Live platform; Music + Video, which integrates with Zune content; the Marketplace app store, and Office.

The first devices to support the OS are expected to be unveiled by LG, HTC and Samsung. LG made a slight slip up earlier in the day and accidentally posted details of its forthcoming Optimus 7 device.
The details were only briefly available, but long enough to leak out onto the internet.

The Optimus 7 includes a DLNA-based Play To feature, augmented reality and Voice-to-Text, all of which can all be added as Live Tiles on the Windows Phone 7, allowing users to access their multimedia including pictures, video and music via any DLNA compatible device or use voice to text transcribing for Facebook and Twitter updates.

Every Windows Phone 7 Series phone will also come with a dedicated hardware button for Bing, Microsoft’s search service, providing one click access to search from anywhere on the phone, including the most relevant web or local results, depending on the type of query and will of course integrate access to popular Microsoft services including Xbox Live and Zune.

The first phones are set to be in stores by Christmas, and Dell, Garmin-Asus, HP, Sony Ericsson and Toshiba have already promised to bring Windows-powered devices to market.

Telecoms.com will be attending the launch event in London and will provide updates on location via twitter.